In retaliation -- or perhaps to scare off Richie? -- fans have flooded her Instagram with nasty comments. Again. That's right. I said again. When Richie and Bieber dated last year, fans of the singer kinda went nuts, leading Bieber to delete his Instagram because they were harassing Richie so much.

This time around, some of the commenters called her names like "monkey" and "b**ch."

Others really got specific: "Shes [sic] a two-faced person who is an opportunist and she will dump u [sic] for a more famous guy."

(It should be noted that Richie is the daughter of famed singer Lionel Richie and half-sister of the iconic Nicole Richie, so she's not exactly desperate for Hollywood connections.)

Others just don't get it: "What do you see in her?" followed by a cry-face emoji.

Others are simple: "No, J!!!!!" followed by snake emojis.

Many of the comments are just snake emojis.

A snake, in case you're not hip with the lingo -- good lord, I am sorry for those words -- means someone who is a scammer, a backstabber, untrustworthy despite the sweet act they may put on. For context: fans of Kimye posted snake emojis all over T. Swift's social media after it came out that she was maybe not exactly truthful about the whole "I made that b*tch famous" debacle.

Some, to be fair, are coming to Richie's defense. One commenter wrote, "No, Justin doesn't choose her over us. He loves us and even if some beliebers don't like Sofia, he can like her. I said, Justin can love who he want. You get it? and we know that Justin prefer his beliebers... But if he also love Sofia what's the problem, really..."

Seems reasonable enough.

Anyways, Bieber fans everywhere, we need to talk.

A little word of advice: sometimes, when you don't like a loved one's significant other, it is best to keep your mouth shut. Sometimes your well-intentioned warnings -- or snake emojis -- backfire. Don't worry though; it has happened to the best of us.

Just maybe next time write it on a piece of paper, and then light it on fire.